Paul Boughton
When designing practical devices, optimising the force that the device can produce is a key consideration and often has to be done with practical constraints. These include physical constraints such as size, shape and weight of the device as well as materials, which in a specific environment may be a design consideration.
Commercial factors, which include initial cost, cost of operation, safety, and product lifecycle (including recycling costs), must also be considered.
Some demands may support each other, eg, less weight = energy efficient, whilst other design goals may oppose, eg, weight versus durability.
With any open-ended problem it is up to the creative mind to come up with an original design, or modifying an existing one. It is the implementation of this design which requires software tools to find the optimal shape and materials to meet the criteria.
To illustrate, here is a basic solenoid problem where the design goal is to maximize force given the solenoid outer dimensions are fixed.
The simplest parameter to optimise is the gap length of the solenoid. As can be seen, the gap was changed from a minimum to a maximum. The optimal gap field plot is included.
Thus the designer finds the optimum design for the problem’s constraints.
Enter √ at www.engineerlive.com/ede
Integrated Engineering Software is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. www.integratedsoft.com
Commercial factors, which include initial cost, cost of operation, safety, and product lifecycle (including recycling costs), must also be considered.
Some demands may support each other, eg, less weight = energy efficient, whilst other design goals may oppose, eg, weight versus durability.
With any open-ended problem it is up to the creative mind to come up with an original design, or modifying an existing one. It is the implementation of this design which requires software tools to find the optimal shape and materials to meet the criteria.
To illustrate, here is a basic solenoid problem where the design goal is to maximize force given the solenoid outer dimensions are fixed.
The simplest parameter to optimise is the gap length of the solenoid. As can be seen, the gap was changed from a minimum to a maximum. The optimal gap field plot is included.
Thus the designer finds the optimum design for the problem’s constraints.
Enter √ at www.engineerlive.com/ede
Integrated Engineering Software is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. www.integratedsoft.com
